The invention relates to an orthopedic bandage for medical applications for stabilizing and immobilizing joints and limbs.
When joints or limbs are fractured, it is conventional to use a plaster dressing in order to ensure the stabilization or immobilization of the affected body part. The plaster dressing restricts the mobility so that the bone tissue can grow back together.
Furthermore, plaster dressings may also be used in the case of ruptured ligaments in joints. In this case too, the dressing is intended to prevent any loading or movement.
Plaster dressings of this kind may comprise plaster-of-Paris bandages or synthetic plaster bandages based on reactive resin. With both systems, curing takes place by wetting with water. This, in conjunction with the reinforcing materials incorporated into the bandages, achieves the strength.
These methods are known. They are, however, not without disadvantages for the user and patient. Natural plaster dressings are relatively inexpensive, yet are heavy and of only limited durability. To apply synthetic plaster bandages, gloves must be worn. Curing of the dressings takes up to 30 minutes. The synthetic plaster bandages must be packaged very rigorously since they cure on contact with atmospheric moisture.
Injuries to ligaments in joints may also be dealt with using the functional dressing technique, known as taping. The taping technique is, moreover, a treatment method for the prophylaxis of injuries, diseases and alterations on the locomotor apparatus. The purpose of taping is to specifically mimic the capsular ligament structures and so achieve selective support and stabilization. It does not, however, achieve the immobilization that is the aim of plaster dressings.
The actual tape dressing is applied in strips comprising preferably inelastic self-adhesive bands, known as straps, or in conjunction with self-adhesive bands possessing short-pull elasticity. It protects, supports and relieves vulnerable, damaged or disrupted parts of a functional unit. It permits functional loading within the pain-free sphere of movement, but prevents extreme or painful movements. Established backing materials include, in particular, nonwovens, wovens or knits which are coated with a pressure-sensitive adhesive. These dressings remain substantially flexible even when two or more layers are applied.
A bandage suitable for immobilizing a body part is described in EP 0 352 095 B. The bandage comprises a substrate whose surfaces have been impregnated with a curable liquid compound. On the surfaces there are also covers which are pervious to water. The covers comprise, preferably, a nonwoven or woven backing comprising, inter alia, a fluoro compound or a silicone.
WO 97/38646 discloses a water-crosslinked, silicone-based bandage. No heat-activatable finish is mentioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,035 describes a heat-activatable adhesive system which recrystallizes. The necessary stability and strength for orthopedic bandages are not described, nor can they be inferred from this system by the person skilled in the art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,450 describes a heat-activatable and heat-deactivatable adhesive system which exhibits small temperature transitions. The required stability and strength for orthopedic bandages are likewise not disclosed and therefore not obvious for the person skilled in the art.
DE 37 29 262 A1 discloses a thermoplastic construction material comprising a backing and a polymer preparation which comprises a meltable addition polymer, a crystallizing carboxylic acid or a carboxylic acid derivative, and, if desired, crystallization modifiers. The thermoplastic construction material may be used in particular for support dressings.
EP 0 309 842 A2 [sic] discloses a composite compound in the form of films, wound bands, or sheets, which have uniformly distributed openings having a dimension of from 1 to 12 mm, leave a free passage of at least 40% of the total surface area, are shapeable at a temperature in the range from 35 to 90xc2x0 C., and adhere to themselves. They are combined with a wide-mesh textile substrate having a specific weight of not more than 500 g/m2 whose structure is successively impregnated or coated with at least two different materials and is then again impregnated and completely enveloped, the first material, which is located in the interior or on the surface of the substrate, being from the family of the polymers, copolymers, or amorphous or semi-crystalline alloys which have a softening temperature of not more than 80xc2x0 C. beyond which they exhibit a viscoelastic to rubberlike, but not liquid, behavior. The second material, which is on the outer surface of the first material, is from the family of the polymers, copolymers or semi-crystalline alloys comprising at least 80% of structural units of the aliphatic ester type, whose melting temperature is between 35 and 80xc2x0 C. and which, in the course of a certain period after melting, adhere to themselves, so that they may be laminated in two or more layers. DE 196 20 109 A1 describes a self-adhesively coated backing material with a hot-melt self-adhesive composition applied to the whole area of at least one side. The thermoplastic adhesive composition is foamed. At an application rate of at least 20 g/m2, the product has an air permeability of at least 3 cm3/cm2/s.
It is an object of the invention to provide a bandage whose design, material and properties make it suitable for stabilizing and immobilizing joints and limbs.
This object is achieved by means of a bandage as specified in the main claim. The subclaims relate to advantageous developments of the bandage.